Honestly, I was never impressed by any of Mania’s previous output and Natürgeist’s sole demo, also reissued on a 7” EP, was more hype than anything else. Without wanting to sound elitist or anything alike, both bands are clearly venturing into the realms of Black Metal without having their roots in it. That doesn’t mean that they are not allowed or that you have to take them less serious, but it is just evident in the way they craft their music. There is a whole generation of Black Metal bands that consists out of people who were previously involved in Hardcore, Punk Rock, Sludge or whatever and that just always shows. And, frankly, that sort of stuff is hardly ever my cup of tea.
Mania, on side A and Natürgeist on the other, are just a prime examples of the sort of Black Metal that is just subpar compared with what the genre is actually used to be. I am aware that this just my frame of reference and this is just my opinion and every one is entitled to their own, but to me this just doesn’t fit well in the original Black Metal aesthetics that I still hold dear. This phenomenon is not only evident in Black Metal, but also in Death Metal. Deicide’s Glen Benton referred to this quite explicitly when he stated that many Death Metal bands nowadays resemble Weezer. This is also the case here, Black Metal has, in my opinion, very little to do with neatly trimmed hipster beards, skinny jeans and thick-rimmed glasses. In addition this usually also comes with a befitting socially aware and political correctness that is just miles away from the non-conformist tradition of how Black Metal started as a musical phenomenon. Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves what they do and how they look, but it does take away a lot from the experience of what I like to see as Black Metal (or Death Metal).
Regardless whether you agree with me on this matter, both Mania and Natürgeist fit perfectly within this frame and sadly that is also heard in the music. On first blush this has just the fast riffing and drums, some shrieky vocals… but once you realize that this just has no soul, no meaning, no nothing, you know that this is nothing more than just trendy disposable stuff. It may be enough to say that Natürgeist is the solo project of one of the guitarists from Blood Incantation, one of the most overrated bands of recent years and one of the bands Glen Benton referred to. In case you like the “Black Metal” that is usually released by labels such as Vendetta Records, you can consider this being your next stop, otherwise dig a little deeper and find something worthy of your time and effort, our pages are brimming with it.
